There is an emphasis on harmony in this structure that shows a new way of thought, and this sense of harmony would be carried over into other works of art of the period and later periods, harmony now being seen as an important artistic virtue. The elaborateness of the decorations have become identified with the Gothic period. As can be seen from the column from Saint-Denis, this sort of elaborate decoration took many forms and most often built sculpture into the building itself. The column from Saint-Denis also shows the power and importance of aesthetic harmony in the figure of a king seeming to emerge from the column itself. This element was not just an aesthetic but a philosophical statement of the time. Suger was much preoccupied with speculations on the metaphysics of light, which governed many of his decisions about the architecture of the building. At the same time,...
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